What are the various career options after engineering ?

 Top Career Options After Engineering: What to do after Engineering? [Trending in 2020]

“What to do after Engineering?” “What to do after BTech?”

How many of you wonder which are all the best career options after Engineering?

Engineering (B.E., or B.Tech.,) is among the most popular graduation courses that students take after completing their school. Choosing the right career can be confusing for many students. The world is full of opportunities. And you might not be aware of most of them. One has to know the list of all career options after engineering to select the right one.

To help you in this regard, here is our list of the best career options after engineering for students who are wondering what to do after engineering: 

Best Career Options After Engineering

1) Higher Studies

One of the most popular career options after engineering is to pursue further studies. If you’re a B.Tech student, then you can prepare for the GATE exam. 

GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) is an exam that tests the comprehensive understanding of undergraduate engineering subjects. With an excellent GATE score, you can enter prestigious engineering colleges (IITs and NITs) for M.Tech. M.Tech is one of the preferred courses after engineering.

You’d get to expand your knowledge and become a more-qualified engineer. If you aren’t interested in the GATE exam, you can also prepare for JAM. You can enter academics and research in your field of engineering. It is one of the best career options after engineering. 

If higher studies are not your thing, wondering what to do after btech, and curious about digital marketing, check out MICA’s Digital marketing course which offers live projects, dedicated student mentor, case studies and more.

2) Public Service Undertakings

When we’ve already mentioned the GATE exam, it would be wrong to ignore PSUs. After engineering, you can also choose to enter government-run PSUs and get a good-paying job.

The competition level for these jobs is quite high. But it’s worth it in the end.  PSUs check your GATE score for recruitment. There are multiple PSUs, and each of them announces the required GATE score for application every year.

They only consider the GATE score of that specific year. If you work hard, then you can even get a job in a Maharatna PSU (BHEL, SAIL, IOCL, and others). These jobs offer great pay, security, and give you a respectable position in society. If you are wondering what to do after btech, PSUs are good options. 

3) Management

If you are wondering what to do after btech, a popular career choice among engineering graduates after engineering is studying management. Studying management can help you get a high-paying job with more responsibility.

To enter this field, you’ll have to get an MBA. MBA is one of the preferred courses after engineering. And for that, you’ll have to give the CAT exam (Common Aptitude Test). Your score in the CAT exam will determine which institute admits you.  

After studying management, you can get managerial roles in different companies. Management is one of the best career options after engineering in India. For those who wish to climb up the corporate ladder fast, this is the best option. Managers are also among the highest-paid professionals in India. You certainly would enjoy pursuing this field. 

4) Entrepreneurship

There was a time when engineers shied away from entrepreneurship. But the successes of many engineer entrepreneurs in recent years have inspired the youth. You can choose to start your entrepreneurial journey after graduating.

To start on this path, you should first identify a prevalent problem and come up with a solution for it.  The problem can be in any sector. For example, Flipkart removed the hassle of shopping offline and PayTM solved the problem of cash scarcity. 

Find a problem and solve it. 

For budding entrepreneurs, there are many resources. You can join a startup incubator, and get a head-start for your company. There are many startup incubators in India, including AngelPrime and CIIE IIMA.

Entrepreneurship requires a lot of patience. But the experience of starting and running a new company is priceless. Moreover, the returns of succeeding as an entrepreneur are fantastic. 

If you need some guidance on entrepreneurship, also to get a chance of bagging a seed funding to kickstart your idea, you might want to try Entrepreneurship Certificate Program from upGrad which offers networking with 650+ entrepreneurs, pitch day with funding of Rs. 10 lakh, one-to-one with industry mentors and a lot more. 

5) Campus Placements

It is one of the most favourite career options after engineering for most of the engineering students. You can choose to get an engineering job through campus placements. Campus placements can help you get a high-paying job even before you get your degree.

Campus placements can be very lucrative. The number of job offers worth more than one crore has increased considerably in the past few years.

Keep these points in mind when preparing for such jobs:

Work hard to maintain a good CGPA score

Prepare for job interviews

Take part in extracurricular activities

Study the companies you’re applying for 

If you are wondering what to do after btech, It’s a great way to start your career. Getting a campus placement gives you security and a guaranteed job when you complete your degree. Taking part in extracurricular activities will help you in showcasing your soft skills (such as leadership, communication, creativity, etc.). That’s why we’ve recommended you focus on them as well. 

6) Become an Expert

Want to get a high-paying job at the start of your career?

Then you should take a course or certification in an in-demand skill. Many companies are looking for engineers who are familiar with the latest technologies, such as artificial intelligence and blockchain.

Jobs in these sectors are better-paying. Moreover, you wouldn’t have to worry about getting a job because high-quality courses also provide placement assistance. And the demand for these skills is tremendously high. Companies are in dire need of professionals adept in AI, data science, blockchain, and similar fields. 

There are many varieties in this field too. Every skill has different applications. So you have the option of choosing the one which you want to master.

The following are the most popular skills in the current market:

Blockchain

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Digital Marketing

Data Science

You can take a course in any one of them and kick-start your career. 

7) Civil Services

If you are wondering what to do after engineering, if you aspire to serve the nation and make a dent in the system, you can opt for the civil services as well. It is probably one of the favourite career options after your B.Tech of your parents.  

Civil services are among the hottest career options. To enter the civil services, you’ll need to crack the UPSC civil services exam, which is one of the toughest examinations in the world. Experts recommend preparing for at least a year before applying.

The UPSC CSE exam is divided into two stages:

Preliminary Examination

Mains (written exam + interview)

Around 1 million students give this exam every year, and only a few thousand get selected.  If you can get a high rank, you can get the prestigious post of IAS, IPS, or IFS, as well. It’s a popular option among engineers as 19 of the top 20 CSE toppers in 2016 were engineers. 

8) Look for internships

Often it becomes incredibly challenging to land a full-time job in a reputed company immediately after completing graduation. However, this is the best time to take on internships or apprenticeships. Internships or apprenticeships are excellent means to expose yourself to the real-world working environment. Although they last for only a few months (3-6 months), they can help build your professional outlook and attain a deeper understanding of work ethics. 

Internships are like a short-term training process where you learn the job’s ropes, understand how to conduct yourself in the workplace, and become aware of your key strengths and weaknesses. They present the perfect opportunity for you to learn and grow as a professional. Not for nothing do employers value internships/apprenticeships so much!  

If you are wondering what to do after engineering and if you are good at what you do and you have won over your employer, you may end up bagging a full-time job position in the same company. Sounds enticing, right? It is not an uncommon thing for companies to hire their best interns for full-time roles.

9) Enter the private sector

Still looking for options before deciding what to do after engineering ? While campus placements are an excellent source for getting leads for the private sector, it does no harm to indulge in some research of your own. The best way to start is by registering in reputed job portals like LinkedIn and Indeed to look for jobs relevant to your expertise area and that match your job profile interests. 

Since India is a major tech hub in the world today, every year MNCs from all around the globe set up their bases in India. Also, home-grown companies are emerging steadily throughout the major tech and industrial hubs in the country, including NCR, Pune, Gujarat, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Naturally, new job profiles are also emerging, and job vacancies are skyrocketing. This is why the private sector holds tremendous promise for fresh B.Tech graduates. 

However, landing a job in the private sector comes with its unique challenges. The biggest problem is that the supply of engineering graduates is way more than the demand created by private sector companies. This leads to cut-throat competition in the job market. So, what can you do then?

You can create a solid resume that highlights your core strengths, skills, and expertise areas. Another vital thing to remember while designing a resume is that different job profiles have different requirements. Hence, it is crucial to tweak your resume according to a particular job profile.

For instance, if you’re applying for the profile of a Software Engineer, make sure to highlight your mathematical skills, programming skills, and command over various programming languages. If you have any relevant certifications or internships under your sleeve, include them as well. Basically, you need to understand the demands of a job profile and then create your resume around it.  

10) Get a certification

There’s no end to learning, especially if you are a curious soul forever willing to acquire knowledge and gain new skills. If you are someone who wishes to upskill before taking on a professional role, certifications are the right way to go. After completing your graduation, you can enrol in certification courses that are relevant to the field of engineering. If you are looking for courses after engineering, please read carefully.  

Some of the most valued certification programs for fresher B.Tech graduates include Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (Core Infrastructure), CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker), CISM (Certified Information Security Manager), CSM (Certified ScrumMaster), and PMP (Project Management Professional) to name a few. If you are wondering what to do after btech, check out the courses we mention in this article. 

If you are wondering what to do after btech, there are many other certifications offered by renowned platforms like CompTIA, Google, AWS, and of course, upGrad. upGrad has a wide range of short-term and long-term certifications across various domains, including Software Development, Blockchain, Management, MBA, Data Science, Machine Learning, and Digital Marketing. 

Obtaining professional certifications will help:

To fortify your professional credibility.

To expand your knowledge base and skillset.

To improve career prospects and boost the pay scale.

To encourage lifelong learning and professional development.

11)  Join the Indian Armed Forces

The Indian Armed Force has three wings – the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian Navy. The Indian Army is land-based, whereas the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy are in charge of the air and water bodies, respectively. As a B.Tech (Engineering) graduate, you can find employment opportunities in all three wings of the Indian Armed Force, only the criterion for joining each is different. For students who are wondering what to do after engineering, joining forces is a good option.

The Indian Army is always on the lookout for technically sound professionals who can support the troops on the field. Usually, Engineers who join the Indian Army are allotted to any of the three branches – Corps of Engineers, Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers, and Corps of Signals. You can join the Army through TGC (Technical Graduate Course) and SSC Tech entry schemes. 

Similarly, after completing your B.Tech (Engineering), you can join the technical squad or the ground squad of the Indian Air Force, depending on your qualifications and skillset. Usually, B.Tech graduates can get in through the AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test) Entry scheme. 

As for the Indian Navy, the government has now started recruiting Engineers via the SNAES (Special Naval Architects Entry Scheme) Entry scheme. 

Create Your Path

As you can see, engineers have tons of career options after they graduate. Whether you want to climb the corporate ladder or conduct research, there are ample opportunities everywhere.

The above is a list of some great career options after engineering. We hope it will answer your question “What to do after engineering?”, “what to do after btech?”. You can determine your interest based on your career choice that you would like to opt for after your graduation. For all young minds, wondering what to do after engineering, you need to check the amount of time, the difficulty level, before deciding which path to opt after your graduation.

By clarifying your goal, you can ensure career success. 

If you are keen on upgrading your career with an MBA course, upGrad is offering the MBA(Executive) program in collaboration with the NMIMS Global Access School. The program has been designed to stand at par with the best on-campus Executive MBA programs across the globe.